LONDON and ATLANTA, Oct. 8, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Leading supply chain solutions provider, Manhattan Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq:MANH), today announced that Woolworths, the UK retailer focused on the home, family and entertainment, has completed its implementation of Manhattan Associates' supply chain platform at its distribution centre in Stoke-on-Trent in just 16 weeks. The distribution centre, run on behalf of Woolworths by leading logistics services provider Wincanton, is dedicated to Woolworth's e-commerce operation. The woolworths.co.uk channel offers 200,000 products and includes a wide range of entertainment goods from DVDs and games to HD Ready TVs, BBQs and outdoor furniture, plus a huge range of electrical products.
A review of Woolworths' existing distribution network concluded that optimizing the fulfilment capability of its e-commerce operation was dependent on having a specific supply chain solutions infrastructure capable of handling large volumes of small orders. It also concluded that to fully exploit the accelerating trend of consumers buying online, it needed to deploy such a solution quickly and without compromising quality.
"Managing inventory for stores often means fulfilling orders for a small number of items in large quantities. In contrast, an e-commerce operation processes large volumes of orders, each typically consisting of a small number of individual units of either a single or several stock-keeping units (SKUs). It therefore needs a dedicated system to fulfil demand," said Tim Owrid, supply chain director at Woolworths. "The Manhattan Associates system allowed us to make significant improvements in terms of visibility and efficiency in a matter of weeks. Such a rapid implementation capability was a critical factor in our selection process and Manhattan Associates was the obvious choice given that rival solutions would have taken up to a year to deploy. We just couldn't wait that long to see improvements -- especially as Christmas is just around the corner. Getting the right products to the customer on time is our main priority."
"Manhattan Associates has gained a huge amount of experience with large scale e-commerce operations in a relatively short space of time," commented Allen Scott, UK managing director at Manhattan Associates. "We have developed a template solution for e-commerce customers that can be deployed extremely rapidly. This worked incredibly well for Woolworths' requirements and we are delighted to be working with them."
About Woolworths
Woolworths Group plc is principally a UK retailer focused on the home, family and entertainment. Woolworths offers its customers value-for-money on an extended range of products. It is built around the well known Woolworths brand which is represented in towns and cities throughout the UK. For in-depth information about Woolworths Group plc and its businesses please visit www.woolworthsgroupplc.com.
About Manhattan Associates, Inc.
Manhattan Associates(r) provides global supply chain solutions to organizations that consider supply chain software, processes and technology strategic to market leadership. The company's software portfolio includes five key Supply Chain Solution Suites: Planning and Forecasting, Inventory Optimization, Order Lifecycle Management, Transportation Lifecycle Management and Distribution Management. These solution suites are enhanced by Platform Applications -- including Supply Chain Intelligence, Supply Chain Visibility and Supply Chain Event Management -- that organize and deliver the information and processes needed to optimize supply chains across functions and locations within and outside an enterprise. A Supply Chain Process Platform provides a unifying architecture that fosters agility and scalability while minimising solution implementation, evolution and support costs. More than 1,200 customers worldwide use Manhattan Associates' global supply chain solutions to enhance profitability and build sustainable competitive advantage. For more information, please visit www.manh.com.